Close to 40,000 pre-schools in Gujarat shut for one day to protest registration rules, details here

Nearly 40,000 preschools across Gujarat, having around 10 lakh children enrolled with them, remained shut as a mark of protest on Tuesday.

Nearly 40,000 pre-schools across Gujarat remained closed on Tuesday to protest against the state government's "failure" to address concerns over registration rules, their association claimed.

Nearly 40,000 pre-schools across Gujarat remained closed on Tuesday owing to a confusion regarding the directives by the government concerning the registration process. (Representative image/Unsplash)

While the government policy mandates all preschools to get themselves registered by February 2025, confusion regarding the directives has led to a delay in the registration process.

Those who fail to comply will not be allowed to operate beyond the said deadline, as per the policy.

Members of the Gujarat Independent Preschool Association organised demonstrations in different cities and met Minister of State for Education Minister Praful Pansheriya here to hand over a memorandum highlighting their demands.

The association's spokesperson, Sagar Nayak, claimed nearly 40,000 preschools across Gujarat, having around 10 lakh children enrolled with them, remained shut as a mark of protest against the government's failure to rectify discrepancies in the registration rules.

He said the preschools have made repeated requests to the government against the rules framed by it for registration but they have not been addressed.

"There is lack of clarity over the building use (BU) permission. All preschools are running on a small scale," Nayak said.

"While the authorities have asked preschools to obtain an educational BU permit, we have asked authorities to allow us to obtain any BU permit (residential, commercial, educational) or in case of absence of a BU permit, even a structural stability certificate should be considered valid," he said.

Also, instead of the 15-year lease agreement as required under the policy, a simple 11-month notarised rent agreement should also be allowed to help resolve the issue, he said.

Further, any proprietor or co-owner should be allowed to carry out registration of the school rather than a trust, as required under the policy, Nayak said.

The government's 'Policy for Regulation of Non-Grant-in-Aid Private Pre-primary Education Institutes for the State of Gujarat' has differences in its Gujarati and English language versions as well, further adding to the confusion, Nayak claimed.